


Needs

by Lynne_Barri



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 18:20:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12538248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynne_Barri/pseuds/Lynne_Barri
Summary: The Isle is under siege by a strange new disease that’s ravaging the children. Uma makes a deal with her worst enemy to save them. But does she really know what she'd signing up for?





	Needs

    Ben and Mal stood outside of his office doors, still hugging. He apologized for what had to have been the two hundredth time, “I’m sorry I can’t be at the game with you.”

    “Ben,” Mal smiled at him, “I said it’s fine. You’re the king of Auradon. There’s no point in me being super disappointed every time work gets in the way of fun. Just finish what you’ve got to do. I won’t be so forgiving if you miss my birthday dinner.”

   Ben smiles, parting her purple bangs and kissing the space there. “I wouldn’t miss it if the world was about to explode.”

   Mal’s smile brightened, and she leaned forward to make their lips connect. “I love you.”

   “I love you, too.”

   They stood like that for a while until Mal finally found the will to pry herself away. All the while, Mal never looked away from him. When she finally rounded the corner, Ben sighed and entered his office.

   “You two are disgustingly cute.”

   Ben jumped at the voice, demanding, “Who’s in here?”

   “Long time, no see Beasty Boy,” Uma grinned at the shocked king’s face as she swiveled around to face him from his office chair. In her hands, she had the list of names Evie had given him last week.

   “What are you doing here, Uma?” He regarded her warily.

   “What’s wrong with visiting a friend?” Uma took a ridiculously old-fashioned quill and dipped it into the ink well. She started crossing off names. “After all it’s been what, six months?”

   “Last time we met,” Ben inched closer to the emergency guard button hidden in the arm of his couch, “we didn’t really part on friendly terms.”

    Uma was focused on the list, marking off names as she pleased. “Then consider it a business call. You once offered me the chance to join your solution. Does the offer still stand?”

   “That depends,” Ben paused, “on how sincere you are. Last time I offered it, you told me you’d find your own way off the Isle. You seem too have done that just fine.”

   “It was hard to believe you actually care when you’re tied up and hoping that I don’t feed you to the sharks. Besides, I still need to find a way for my crew,” she said, still crossing off names. “For all the kids under my protection. What’s left of them anyway.”

   “What do you mean what’s left?”

   “There’s a disease,” Uma said. “It’s wiping us out, one by one. No one on the Isle can handle it, and we don’t even know what it is.”

   “None of your doctors can figure it out?” Ben questioned.

   “We don’t have doctors.”

   A brief silence stood between the two leaders before Ben started.

   “Believe it or not,” Ben sighed, “I do care about the kids on the Isle. I want to give everyone the second chance they deserve, and I know that’s what you want too.”

   “I’m sure you want to clear your conscious of your father’s wrongs,” Uma checked over the list one more time. “And that makes you more like an Isle kid than you realize. I’ll give you a hint for the first step: help us survive. We need doctors, medicine, anything that’s not your trash or leftovers. Make that happen and you step a little closer to redemption.”

   “I’ll send you everything we can spare,” Ben promised.

   “I’ll believe it when I see it,” Uma rose from the chair. She placed the list on the table. Ben’s brow furrowed as she made her way to the closest window. “I’ll meet you at the bridge at noon tomorrow. Bring whoever you want, but if I think for a second that it’s a trap, I’ll bail.”

   “I’ll be there.”

   Uma took a moment to feel the fresh air on her skin. “Oh, and next time, Evie should make her list while she’s on the island. You almost wasted a lot of paper sending invites to a bunch of corpses.”

    Ben watched Uma jump from the window before he went back to his desk to find the page almost completely inked out.

 

* * *

  

   “Uma was here?!” Mal’s hands went to Ben’s face. “She didn’t spell you again, did she?”

   Ben smiled at her, “No. Just asked for my help.”

   Mal put her arm around Ben’s shoulders, “You’re worried.”

   Ben bit the inside of his cheek, but didn’t look at Mal. “Are there really no doctors on the Isle?”

   Ben felt Mal stiffen before answering softly, “No. There aren’t any real doctors unless you want to count Dr. Facilier.”

   The lines on Ben’s forehead deepened.

   Mal decided they needed a slight change in subject, “But that doesn’t mean that this isn’t some type of trick on Uma’s part. She could still be trying to play on your kindness.”

   “And if she’s not?” Ben stood up, pacing. “Mal, she blacked out almost every name on Evie’s list.”

   “That doesn’t make it true,” Mal spoke in a soothing tone, “you can’t beat yourself up over this. Even if it is true, there’s nothing you could have done.”

   “I’m just as much their king as my father was,” Ben said. “I should have at least known what was going on.”

   “And you will,” Mal insisted. “Send someone to check out the situation before we meet with Uma. Meanwhile, we’ll come up with a plan, just in case things go south.”


End file.
